A chance for change

Sampling activists blood outside a Bayer chemical plant. Previous test showed that chemicals produced by companies like Bayer are in his blood. To highlight this issue we attempted to return the contaminated blood to Bayer because it includes types of chemicals that Bayer produces at the plant. It refused to accept the blood sample.

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A new legislative proposal in Europe, called REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), could help to pave the way out of the current chemicals crisis by driving the development and use of safer alternatives. This law could provide a solution to lead the world closer to a toxics free future.

o Over 30,000 chemicals are currently produced in quantities over one tonne per year within the European Union. More chemicals enter Europe as additives or contaminants in chemical preparations or consumer products. Others are generated as unintentional by-products of manufacturing or waste management processes and are released in waste streams or distributed as contaminants in consumer products.

o Only a handful of these chemicals have been assessed for the risks they pose. Even where risks have been identified, little effective action has resulted.

o Many chemicals are still widely used even though they are known to be hazardous.

A proposal for a new European law currently being decided by governments and the European Parliament offers a real opportunity to begin controlling the spread of chemicals. Europe is the world's largest chemical producer, so what starts here could change how chemicals are regulated around the world.

The proposed legislation is called REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals). It could help ensure that the most hazardous chemicals currently used and produced are substituted with safer alternatives. Substitution of hazardous chemicals is the only way that we can reduce our exposure to chemicals in the home, as toxic additives are contained in a multitude of consumer products. It is also important that the new legislation gives sufficient information about the properties and possible hazards of the chemicals on the market including the ones in imported products, and that the public know what chemicals are in what products so that we can begin to take control of our chemical exposure.

If agreed in a good form, the new EU law could trigger a phase out of some of the world's most dangerous chemicals. But the chemicals industry is fighting back and has mounted a strong lobby both inside Europe and globally to persuade the EU to weaken its proposal. The US administration has joined forces with the powerful chemicals industry, and is threatening to take the EU to the World Trade Organisation on the grounds that REACH damages US commercial interests.

We urgently need to tell EU Governments and parliamentarians:

To stand up to polluting chemical producers and put our health and environment first.
To make substitution of all hazardous chemicals mandatory where safer alternatives are available. If no suitable alternatives are currently available and its use is essential to society, a time limit should be set for the continued use of a hazardous substance, to encourage the development of a safer replacement.
That industry must be obliged to provide sufficient information about the properties and hazards of chemicals they produce or import into the EU.
That we need a system to make industry accountable for the impact of their products, now and in the future.
That we have the right to know what's in the products we bring into our homes.

Help us to persuade European politicians to vote for safer chemicals.